It's long overdue

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT), Newstimes

Published 1:00 am, Tuesday, December 2, 2008

It's been 10 years since Connecticut and several other states won a $246 billion settlement against big tobacco. The money was supposed to be used for anti-smoking education, tobacco cessation programs and other outreach efforts.

Apparently, Connecticut officials never got the memo.

After a decade of underfunding these anti-smoking missions -- Connecticut has routinely spent between $500,000 and $2 million a year, well short of the $44 million annual expenditure recommended by the
CDC
-- state officials are trying to do better.

Last month, Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal
said a recent settlement with a drug company and two pharmaceutical benefit companies had netted the state $6.3 million.

Of that amount, Blumenthal said, $4.3 million will go into the state's Cancer Plan Initiative. The other $2 million will go into the state's General Fund, where most of the big tobacco settlement money has always gone in Connecticut.

We applaud Blumenthal's decision. But even with the extra $4.3 million, Connecticut lags far behind the anti-smoking curve. We must do better, if only for our children.

Consider: This year, Connecticut didn't spend a dime to help residents cut down on tobacco use. But not because the money wasn't there.

The state collected $140 million in settlement money and another $236 million in tobacco taxes, but it dumped all of it into the General Fund.

Connecticut, one of the wealthiest states in America, ranked dead last in anti-smoking funding in 2008. Forget about the yellow fingers. That's the real stain here.

Next year, the state budget includes $8 million for tobacco cessation programs. Add the $4.3 million from Blumenthal and you have $12.3 million earmarked to fight tobacco and nicotine addiction.

The infusion is long overdue, especially when you consider the state's annual tobacco-related health costs top $1.6 billion.

Let's hope next year's tobacco war chest will help more people stop smoking and prevent other folks from lighting up at all.

With New Year's Day less than a month away -- and those all-important resolutions right around the corner -- the state is finally putting its money where its mouth is and trying harder to stomp out smoking.